


Parenting in the Twenty First Century

by HalfASlug



Category: Broadchurch
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-03
Updated: 2017-03-03
Packaged: 2018-09-28 03:32:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,074
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10069298
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HalfASlug/pseuds/HalfASlug
Summary: Hardy and Ellie learn about the ever changing challenges of parenting together. Set during S3E1.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Do you people have any idea how weird it is to spend 2 years writing characters as a couple and then having to go back to writing them as friends? Do you? Do you have any idea how to make it less weird? Please. I’m asking for a friend.

Hardy had nearly finished typing up his initial report for their new case when his office door opened. He didn’t have to look up to see who had entered. There was only person who was both not scared of him and actually wanted to talk to him.

“Miller, I’ve definitely told you to knock before.”

“And I’ve told you to be less of a dick, but look where we are.” She dropped a Tesco bag on his desk and sat on the sofa. “Got you some rabbit food.”

Reluctantly, Hardy peered into the bag to see a chicken salad and bottle of apple juice. Sat on the small table in front of Miller was a sandwich, can of Coke, a scotch egg and a packet of crisps.

“I took your snack part of the meal deal. Sorry,” she said, unapologetically biting into a sandwich.

She tossed her handbag to the other side of the sofa and made herself more comfortable. “A couple of the guys have started getting the names of people-”

“Oh yes! Ungh! Yes!”

They both froze.

“Oh God! Yes! Harder!”

“Shit!” Ellie dived towards her bag and started rummaging through it. Receipts, sweet wrappers, leaflets and who knew what else ended falling out across his office floor until she found what she was after.

The voice of the woman that had shocked them so much grew louder and Ellie pulled a phone out of her bag and frantically pressed the screen until the noise stopped.

Red in the face, she stared at the phone as though she had no idea how to react. To be fair to her, Hardy was a bit lost himself.

“Was that-?”

“Not a word,” she growled. She shoved the phone into her bag and yanked the zip closed before nodding like she’d slain a vicious beast. “It’s not mine. It’s Tom’s.”

“You brought your son’s porn to work?”

She glared at him. “That’s not shutting up.”

Hardy sat back in his chair. It was so rare that he had the upper hands in these discussions. “If I bore you so much that you feel you need to bring in-”

“I will ram that phone so far up your arse I’d be able to make calls from it if you opened your mouth.”

Under Miller’s fierce gaze, Hardy sat forward to retrieve his salad, wondering how he’s lost the upper hand quite so quickly.

Before he even had peeled the film lid off the tub, Miller had inhaled the rest of her sandwich.

“You want to talk about it?”

“No,” Miller replied around a mouthful of sandwich. “Yes. You know I had to pick up Tom?”

Hardy nodded, poking his salad.

“He’d only been called into the Head’s office. The little shit has been giving all the other little shits porn! Like a - a dealer!” She opened her Coke with so much force it fizzed up, but she didn’t notice. “A wank dealer! My son is a wank dealer!”

Even after years as a copper, Hardy had to admit he was surprised. He had noticed Miller had been in a foul mood when she left and he was glad it had nothing to do with Trish or himself.

Miller was halfway through her crisps before he thought it was safe to speak again. “Do the kids at that school not understand Google? I mean, why did they need Tom?”

“Yes, that’s the exact line I went with,” Miller snapped. “Where are the other kids’ internet smarts?”

“I’m just saying. Why was there even a demand for that kind of thing?”

“Because most parents block those sites. And, before you start,” she said, pointing a threatening finger at him, “I had. I’ve somehow ended up with this century’s Alan Turing for a son and he disabled it all. I’d be impressed if I wasn’t so pissed off,” she admitted quietly.

One thing that had changed with Hardy’s move back to Broadchurch was that they were now both single parents. It was handy in a way because they both understood and covered when one had to run off in the rare event of an emergency. It also meant they had another person to vent frustrations and celebrate achievements with. It added a whole new dynamic to their relationship that Hardy was grateful for. Talking about and having something in common with Miller that wasn’t work was nice. Besides, he’d known the Miller boys long enough now that he had started to care about them separately from their mother.

Hardy sipped his drink. “I’m glad I’ll never have to deal with that.”

“Why? You’re a dad.”

“To a daughter.”

Miller’s eyebrows shot up her forehead.

“What’s that look for?”

She hastily went back to her crisps. “Nothing.”

He stared at her, wondering if she was thinking what he thought she was thinking. “Girls don’t watch that nonsense.”

“If you say so.”

“What? Are you saying you watch that shite?” Thanks to the Latimer trial, Hardy already knew the answer, but even he had enough sensitivity to not bring up her time in the witness stand. That aside, she clearly had some insider female knowledge and, seeing as she was currently the only woman in his life who wasn’t his daughter, he had no one else to ask.

He tried not to think about how, apart from Daisy, she was the only  _ person _ in his life.

As expected, Miller scoffed. “Of course not! But I was looking into better ways to block it at home and read some very interesting articles...”

Hardy had been about to drink but forgot all about it and paused with the bottle halfway to his mouth. “You’re kidding.”

Miller just shrugged.

“No.” Hardy shook his head and went back to his computer. “She wouldn’t.”

The words in the report he had written not half an hour before might as well have been written in Greek.

“Daisy’s older than Tom, isn’t she?” Miller asked. He could heat the teasing in her tone. Drumming his fingers on his desk, he did his best to ignore her.

Just when he thought he had full time parenting handled, she had to go and screw with his head.

“Do you want me to forward you that article about parental locks?” Miller said innocently.

Hardy’s fingers stopped, but he didn’t show any other signs of having heard her.

She reached for her scotch egg. “I’ll do it after lunch.”

“Thanks,” Hardy mumbled.


End file.
